Irreplaceable
by NorthernTrash-x
Summary: Ichigo/Rukia. For aliceistiny. Because sometimes, just the touch of her hand will do.


Ichigo x Rukia

For aliceistiny, for her anniversary.

**Irreplaceable**

_If you would stay then we could stick pins in the map  
><em>_Of all the places where you thought that love would be found  
><em>_But I would only need one pin to show where my heart's at  
><em>Josh Ritter

He lay in the dark, trying hard not to breathe. He had been in situations like this before, waiting to see whether consciousness would slip away from him or not. Normally he was trying hard to remember _to _breathe_, _but right now every time he took too deep a breath, it hurt too much. And he was used to pain. His ribs felt on fire, his lungs felt sandpapered. He couldn't get rid of the taste of blood from his mouth, couldn't escape the ache across his chest and the numbness everywhere else. Too much morphine, he'd lost the feeling in every part of his body except the part that hurt the most. He had a feeling that no amount of drugs in the world would be able to get rid of that pain right now.

His ribs had been shattered, his lungs punctured. They had said he was lucky that there had been no damage to his heart, but he didn't feel lucky right about now.

It hadn't been a battle that had caused this damage. Ironic, that, considering how many bruises and broken bones he had managed to gather during those long and epic fights. No, there was a much more mundane reason for his pain; just black ice on the roads, a driver who wasn't paying attention, a skid and a dull thump.

Snow had started to fall whilst he was sat there on the side of the road, waiting for an ambulance.

It had been cold, he thinks he remembers that, but now he is not so sure.

He felt a little light headed, but he supposed that was from the oxygen supplied by the mask covering his mask.

If this had been caused in a battle, there would be no pain by now. The shinigami of the Fourth Division would have taken it away, or Inoue would have healed him up. He could call her and ask her over, he knew she'd drop everything to heal him up, but it was too late now. He was already in the hospital, if the nurses came in and found that his shattered ribs and ruptured organs had healed, too many questions would be asked.

His family had been called, and had spent the evening asking worried questions by his bedside whilst he drifted in and out of consciousness.

He tried to ignore the tickle in his throat, but couldn't. He coughed, and spots of red exploded in his vision. The pain was excruciating.

More morphine, please.

Before he could stop himself, he felt himself slipping into the black again.

The hours slipped by; he didn't notice the night nurse come into the room later on, didn't wake as she checked his chart and the monitors that he was hooked up to. She checked her watch, made a note that everything was stable, and let him sleep on. Blood was already soaking through the bandages around his chest from where the broken ribs had punctured his skin, the older blood already turning a dark, blackish burgundy.

Ichigo had asked his father to leave the window open, before he left. Isshin had done so without even asking why.

The nurse considered closing the window; a sharp breeze was rolling in from outside, a touch of frost in it, making her shiver. The snow had been falling all night long; when this boy had come in, he had been freezing and covered in a thin layer of damp snow. She knew she shouldn't leave the window open, but the boy's father had been so insistent that it be left the way it was. She shrugged, and closed the door softly behind her. If Doctor Kurosaki thought that it wasn't such a bad idea, then she didn't want to argue. If he was anything like the Dr Ishida that ran the hospital (and rumour had it they were old friends) then he wouldn't take kindly to people not listening to him.

There was a faceless shape at the window. The nurse hadn't noticed it, but then, it wasn't a figure that most people would be able to see. The snow had left a fine drift across the dark fabric that covered the figure's shoulders, but there was no shiver from the cold.

Dark eyes flickered around, resting briefly on the man in the bed.

A slender foot came first through the window, followed by another. A narrow waist and hips, thin wrists and a pointed chin. Her skin was pale against the blackness of the night, and she moved slowly across the room.

"Ichigo?"

He didn't respond, and she moved closer.

"Ichigo?"

She touched his hand, and pulled down the covers to reveal the mess that was his chest. She frowned at the blood soaking bandages, and muttered something under her breath, holding her hand over him. There was a faint yellowish glow, and though nothing seemed to change, Ichigo did stir a little.

"Wake up, Ichigo."

He opened his eyes slowly, and a small, crooked smile fell into place across his face. The corners of his eyes crinkled up as he realised that the pain around his chest had faded.

"What did ya do?"

She touched his cheek.

"Just took the pain away. It wont last for long."

He reached up, and winced a little as he felt bones shift in his chest as he did so. His hand settled against hers, cradling it against his face.

"I wondered if you'd show up."

"Your dad told Urahara, and he sent me a message."

Ichigo nodded, he'd guessed that already. She was frowning now.

"You need to stop getting into these scrapes."

"You've seen me in worse shape that I am now."

"It doesn't mean I like it."

He smiled again, and she pressed a quick, fleeting kiss to his forehead.

"I'll always pull through, you know that."

She kissed him again.

"Don't think you're invulnerable, Ichigo."

He pulled her hand across his face and kissed her fingertips. She always worried so much.

"You're irreplaceable, to me."

There was a murmur from the night nurses in the corridor, and both of them looked instinctively towards the door. Their brief moment had been broken, and she turned another soft, warm smile towards his battered face. She traced the outline of his black eye, and kissed him lightly on the mouth.

"I'll be back to see you soon, Ichigo."

Before he could respond, she was out of the window and gone. The cool air brushed against his face, and he smiled to himself.

The pain came back soon enough, but he found that he could cope with it a little better.


End file.
